---
title: Very soon, the tree began to fall, but was fortunately caught by ano… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Very soon, the tree began to fall, but was fortunately caught by another tree growing near. Who acts: tree. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 74

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Very soon, the tree began to fall, but was fortunately caught by another tree growing near.

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**Who acts:** tree · **What happens:** begin, fall, catch, grow

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tree), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:5:74
# text = Very soon, the tree began to fall, but was fortunately caught by another tree growing near.
1	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
12	fortunately	fortunately	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	det	_	_
16	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	acl	_	_
18	near	near	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the tree |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **fall** | to-infinitive | the tree *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **catch** | past · passive | another tree |  |  |  |  | fortunately *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **grow** | gerund | another tree *not said here* |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Project Gutenberg book 70959 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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